


I Dream of You

by firefly214



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Bughead baby, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Episode: s02e22 Chapter Thirty-Five: Brave New World, F/M, Hospitalized Jughead, Marriage Proposal, Riot night, Visions, Wedding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-25
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2020-07-19 08:13:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19970836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firefly214/pseuds/firefly214
Summary: [Warning: Season 2 spoilers] Bughead onseshot. Set at the end of Season 2 when Jughead is in the hospital. Except he has visions more like Fred's. Rather than Betty weeping over his grave, he sees all of the most important moments of his future life with her. Bughead cuteness. (Previously on just fanfiction.net, finally figuring out AO3.)





	I Dream of You

**Author's Note:**

> A re-write of Jug's hospital visions. He sees his possible future with Betty. Disclaimer: I own nothing.

"Where are we, Jug?" Betty asks, giggling a little.

"You'll see in a moment," I respond, looking back at my beautiful blindfolded girlfriend as I unlock one of the side doors of our old high school. I'm extremely grateful that I don't have to break in to do this. It was a relief when Principal Henderson had agreed to lend the keys for the night (for a small fee of course), knowing me only as "a best-selling author" rather than the trouble-causing Serpent that Weatherbee had always seen me as.

"We're about to go up some stairs," I tell her as we approach a staircase that will lead to the second floor classroom that was the Blue & Gold office during our time at Riverdale High.

"Are you trying to kill me, Jughead Jones?" She asks. "I swear I'm going to trip and fall." Her sweet, melodic laugh echoes off of the hallways.

"Well you are pretty clumsy," I tease her.

"Am not!" She immediately denies.

"Oh yeah. I forgot. You just trip over your feet all the time for fun." She doesn't have a chance to respond before I am holding her in my arms and carrying her up the stairs.

"Am I really that clumsy?" She asks as we near the second floor.

"Maybe not," I admit. "But I don't want to take any chances."

We reach the second floor, but I don't set her down. I don't set her down until I'm standing in front of the door. I remove her blindfold and she looks around.

"The Blue & Gold office?" she asks as I open the door, leading her inside. "Why did you bring us here, Jug?" Her perfect green eyes sparkle with amusement. I'm so lucky.

I look around the room with her. The desks are arranged differently, the walls are now painted a dark blue, our "murder board" of so long ago is completely gone. Our very first issue of the paper, which Betty insisted on framing and hanging on the wall, is untouched. The filing cabinet sits in the same corner it did when this was our office. The desks are piled high with papers, just like they always were when Betty was working. I scour the room, still not answering her question. I'm looking for the desk. Her desk. The one where she had spent hours working on her articles. I can still see the way that she would always scrunch up her nose when she was trying to think of the perfect word, the look of concentration on her face when she had gotten into the zone, the look of satisfaction whenever she finished an article.

I find the desk. I see the carving I had made our junior year: BC with JJ written underneath it. The memory of making that carving comes back to me. Betty had been working on one of her articles again while I had kept her company. I can't remember what exactly compelled me to do it, but I took my switchblade from my pocket and began to carve out her first initial. Betty hadn't noticed until I had carved both her initials, at which point she had asked me what the hell I was doing and why I was vandalizing school property. I can't remember what I told her. Probably something that was my version of embarrassingly sappy as I started to carve out my own initials. Whatever I had said, it had satisfied her and she didn't object to me finishing my carving.

I had left it at just the initials back then. No heart, no Cupid's arrow, not even a plus sign or something. I wasn't the most open person, even if it was just a carving in a desk. But now, I take out my switchblade again, rectifying my mistake. Betty looks on as I finally carve that heart around those four letters. I wonder if she remembers that day too or if she has just been reminded that that carving exists.

"I think it looks much better now," I tell her.

"It's always looked good," she tells me. "I used to look at it all the time when you weren't here," she admits with a shy smile. "It was always some kind of reminder to me of how much you loved me."

"And still do," I added. "And always will. I spent so much time in here, just falling in love with you even more." My words made her blush and she looked down. She's never been too good at accepting praise. I cool the anger that threatens to rise in me when I remember that her own mother is the reason for that. "To be honest," I continue, "there are so many places where I spent so much time falling more in love with you. Every single day. Because It's impossible for me to not fall so deeply in love with you, Betty Cooper. More and more every day." She's finally managed to look back at me, just as I kneel down. "And I know what I want, every day for the rest of my life. And's it's to be with you, Betty. To be able to call you mine. My wife. Will you marry me?"

I can see the tears in her eyes. They're tears of happiness, right? But she doesn't respond.

"Betty?" I ask, my voice threatened to fail me. My lungs struggle to take in air as she still doesn't respond.

"I can't Jug," she cries.

I want to ask why, but my mouth is to dry.

"I can't spend my life with you, Jug. Because you're gone."

"No! I'm right here!" I desperately tell her, finally finding my voice. What does she even mean?

"You're not," she tells me, more tears falling from her eyes. "You died. On riot night."

She's right.

"You took your last breath, remember? Right before Penny stabbed you again."

I remember.

"You're already dead, Jug. Do you remember?"

"Yes," I croak out, fighting my own tears. Just when my life was finally worth something, I lost it. I mourn the life that I will never have with her. I mourn that this moment will never happen. I'm dead.  
\-----------------------------------------------

Betty walks down the aisle. She is more beautiful than words can describe. My mind struggles to understand again how I have gotten so lucky. She's about to be mine forever. This amazing woman is about to be my wife! She reaches me and I can admire her beauty up close. She is breathtaking. Literally. I find my thoughts again as the preacher tells me to begin my vows. To confess my love to my wonderful bride. To tell her how lucky I am.

"Betty," I'm speaking loud enough that the guests can hear me, but my words are for her only. "When I was younger, I never believed that I would be here, lucky to have a wonderful life and to be marrying the most wonderful, amazing, incredible woman in the world who I do not deserve."

"That's because you're not here," the preacher interrupts. I turn to him and focus on his face for the first time. It's my father. When did my father become a preacher? I see Betty in my peripheral vision, tears falling down her cheeks. But I can tell that they're not happy tears.

"I'm sorry, son," my father tells me. "You died."

No! That can't be right! I can't be dead! When did I die? How did I leave Betty? I love her so much!

"You sacrificed yourself to the Ghoulies on riot night," he tells me. "Remember?"

I remember now. I laid on the ground while they kicked and stabbed me. And I didn't fight back. Why didn't I fight back? I can't remember as everything starts to fade. Betty's face is the last thing to disappear.  
\-----------------------------------------------

Betty and I sit in our New York apartment as Betty holds our newborn daughter in her arms. Even without seeing it on her face, I know that she's beyond tired. We've only had her home for a week and she's already deprived both of us of way too much sleep. But I wouldn't trade it for anything. This is what a perfect life is. In this moment, I remember the words of Izabella Scorupco: "The most simple things can bring the most happiness." The simple joy of being a father is one of the best that I have ever felt in my life.

I am shaken from my thoughts by a knock at the door. I already know who's behind it as I walk over. I open the door to reveal, as I suspected, a very excited Veronica Lodge and her fiance (and one of my best friends) Archie Andrews. Veronica has been visiting practically everyday since Betty had the baby, wanting to make sure that she knows who her Auntie Veronica is. And of course, Archie always comes along. It's impossible to say no to Veronica Lodge.

In less than two seconds, Veronica was gone from my vicinity and on the couch with Betty and her niece. Archie was still by the doorway, however.

"I swear she could be an Olympic runner if the finish line were your daughter," he jokes, and despite my tiredness, I chuckle.

"I think that any baby would do, Archie," I joke back.

"I don't know," he tells me. "I think she's taken a special liking to Gwen."

"I think we all have," I tell him as we join Veronica and Betty- my wife!- on the couch. I still can't resist smiling every time that I remember that she's my wife. The four of us sit together for a while, chatting and practicing our baby talk. Veronica is always especially fond of doing the second.

"I still can't believe that you guys have a daughter already," Veronica comments.

"I can't believe it either," I agree as I smile at my wife, still holding our daughter.

"I know," Archie joins in, but his tone is dark. I look at him and his face mirrors his tone.

"Arch," Veronica says in the voice that we all know as her warning voice. What's going on?

"No, Ronnie, I have to tell him," he challenges his fiance.

"Tell me what?" I ask.

"Arch," Betty pleads this time. "Please. Just let him have this moment."

"What the hell is going on?" I ask. What are they all keeping from me?

"Do you really want to know?" Archie asks me. There are tears in all three of their eyes.

"Yes," I growl impatiently. "Tell me. Please." I have to know.

"You don't have a daughter," he tells me.

What? What does he mean? Is he insinuating... He can't be! Because it is far beyond true. The little baby that Betty gave birth to is my daughter. Betty would never betray me like that.

Betty puts a hand on my arm, stilling me.

"He doesn't mean it like that," she says, as if she can read my mind.

"He just mean that this isn't real," Veronica tells me. I'm beyond confused now. What does she mean? "This moment isn't real. You're not really here, Jughead."

I'm beyond confused now.

"Would someone please stop speaking in riddles and tell me what's really going on?" I demand.

"You died, Jug," Archie tells me. My mouth is completely dry. I died? What does he even mean? "We lost you on riot night. When you offered yourself to Hiram and Penny and the Ghoulies. Instead of the Serpents. You remember, don't you?"

I remember now. I called Hiram Lodge and made him a deal. I offered myself- My death- in exchange for an end to the attack on the Serpents. I remember laying on the cold asphalt of an abandoned parking lot as the Ghoulies kicked and stabbed every part of my body. Penny stood above me, occasionally ducking to my level to inflict more pain. She was laughing. She told me how funny it was. How I was sacrificing myself. How I was going to die and it wouldn't even matter. Because the Ghoulies were still going to take down the Serpents and she was still going to hurt Betty Cooper. My Betty. The love of my life. And of my death too. That's why I did it. That's why I had called Hiram. That's why I hadn't fought back when they had knocked me to the ground. And that's why I had left this life. That's why I had left Betty. To save her.

The door is still open and I can see a black abyss beyond it. I know that it's for me. That it's time for me to go. I can't hold on to this moment forever. I have to let it go. I have to let Betty go. I have to let my future with this perfect girl go.

"I love you, Betty," I kiss her. "I'll never stop loving you," I told her that the night I died. I kiss our daughter. The one that will never be. I hug Archie. Veronica too. There are tears in all their eyes.

"I miss you, Jug," Betty cries as I step into the abyss. I miss you too. The abyss turns into blinding light.  
\-----------------------------------------------

I open my eyes. I can hear the beeping of machines. I can see dull, blank walls surrounding a TV screen. I'm hooked up to a million wires. I'm in a hospital room. Maybe this is another vision. Except I don't think it is. It feels too real.

I look to my right. She's here! Resting in a chair by the side of my bed is the love of my life. The most important person in the world to me: Betty Cooper. I cry with happiness. I'm not dead. I haven't left Betty. I can have everything that I saw. I can have a life with Betty Cooper!

"Betty," I breathe out in happiness. She opens her eyes and they fill with light.

**Author's Note:**

> Yay! Finally figured out AO3 and got this cross-posted :) Hopefully I can get my other works posted too lol.  
> Thank you all so much for reading! If you loved it (or if you didn't), drop me a review. Thanks!


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